Painful Memories - Memorial To Suffering (CD)

Review
Tartarean Desire
7/10

Painful Memories was a Russian band whose “Memorial To Suffering” demo made a certain impact when it was released ten years ago. The doomsters guys running Solitude Productions have managed to re-release it on CD to deliver the goods and provide a proper edition to that worthwhile album; namely, a remastering and the addition of a videoclip. Honestly the first listenings didn´t tell me anything unique. Further doses started to whisper something into me. If not a masterpiece in a strict sense, we´re before a quite interesting album, especially taking into account it´s been ten years since these songs saw the light. Doom-death metal with plenty of tempo changes, could be a definition of this work. Far from matching the intensity of bands like Opeth, the sound of these guys was varied and enjoyable, far from monotony many doom bands usually wield in every song. Variety is achieved without accoustic guitars nor clean vocals; it´s rather based on tempos and rhythms without leaving the traditional doom-death soundscapes. The songmaking is a bit sparse and the melodies are somewhat weak, in the sense most of the riffs are too similar: nevertheless, the album as a whole is not bad at all, since Painful Memories are skilled musicians and the songs are very correct. The band only released this demo and are actually disbanded. Who knows what could have happened if they kept up their course making music? Speculations to the trashbin; right here, right now, this is the only legacy left by this band and that´s the only truth.

Author: Fjordi